Amid the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela, which is set to conclude on 26 February 2025, a video (here, here and here) has gone viral on social media showing a train on fire. These posts claim that the incident took place in Prayagraj on 14 February 2025, resulting in the death of 300 people. Let’s investigate the truth behind this video.
Claim: The viral video showing a burning train is from Prayagraj during the Kumbh Mela, where 300 people died on 14 February 2025.
Fact: The viral video of a burning train actually depicts the Parabat Express train fire in Bangladesh, which occurred on 11 June 2022. The fire broke out in the power service compartment of the Dhaka-Sylhet-bound train in Usmangarh, Kamalganj. This incident has no connection to the Kumbh Mela. Hence, the claim is FALSE.
To verify the truth behind the video, we first searched for any reports of train accidents or fires related to the Kumbh Mela in India but found no relevant information. Upon closer inspection, the train’s bogies did not appear to match the design typically used in India. A reverse image search on Google led us to a news video from Bangladesh, where the video was originally uploaded by “United News of Bangladesh.” The caption in Bengali reads, “Parabat train | Terrible fire in the coach of the intercity Parabat Express train running in Moulvibazar Shamsernagar | UNB.” This confirms that the incident took place in Bangladesh, not India.
Further search led us to several reports (here, here and here) from Bangladeshi media. According to these sources, a fire broke out in the power service compartment of the Dhaka-Sylhet-bound Parabat Express in Usmangarh, Kamalganj, on 11 June 2022. Three fire units from Kulaura, Kamalganj, and Moulvibazar managed to control the fire after about an hour and a half. The fire caused damage to twelve compartments, and train connections between Sylhet and the rest of the country were suspended. No casualties were reported, and the fire was believed to have been caused by an AC fault.
A side-by-side comparison of the viral video and the actual incident video confirms that the viral video is that of an incident from Bangladesh and has no connection to the Kumbh Mela in India.
To sum up, a 2022 video of a train fire incident from Bangladesh is falsely shared as that of an incident from Prayagraj during the Kumbh Mela.
